Asking Ally's Army for Prayers.....

Well this is certainly one post that I never thought I would have to write.  It has taken me quite some time to even gather the words in my mind and my heart to put this one on paper.  We received the devastating news that our best friend's son, Caulin Booher, has ALL leukemia.  Just. Like. Ally.  I am sure many, if not all, of you recognize the name from multiple blog entries.  Remember my Family of 13?  The two families who picked up all the slack for me when Ally was going through her intense chemotherapy.  That's the Boohers.  They helped me every step of the way.  Arranged meals, watched kids, PRAYED with us, they even sold the Ally's Army bracelets for us that many of you wore.  My Mom had just died and then with Ally's diagnosis...well my friends basically picked up all the pieces for me.  They live just a few doors away.

This is Caulin shaving his head for Ally. He did it without hesitation. The before...He is in green shirt.

 And after, in the back....

I have know Caulin since the day he was born.  Celebrated numerous holidays...vacations.. birthdays...first and last days of school....summer breaks...trips to the lake...you name it.  Jerad and I were saying he is about as close to us as our own child without being our child.  Heck my kids even call HIS grandparents...Grandma and Grandpa Booher.

I have no words for this one.  We are all shaken up.  I keep reminding myself that the statistic is that 3 out of every 100,000 kids get ALL.  How can this happen?  I think in my mind I still think it has to be a mistake.  You could fill OSU's stadium with kids...and only 3 would have it.  It cannot be a coincidence.

Caulin's Mom Suzanne asked me to forward on his blog information.  All that she keeps asking for is prayers for their boy.  She wants as many as she can get.  I know a lot of my cancer family and extended family still read this blog.  So please, please, please, I am begging my Army once again to pray for this boy that we love we much.  Prayers did wonderful things for Ally.  I am asking all of Ally's Army to now become Caulin's Army, or Caulin's Crew...or whatever they decide for his group to be.  And keep the faith.

We are all in this together.  Fighting childhood cancer.  We have to just continue to fight for those we love.  Fight for Caulin to go into remission.  Fight for Ally that she remain in remission.    And for all the other fighters out there...keep on!

Here is his caring bridge site (think you do need to set up a password)....
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/caulinbooher

Our commercials

I am sorry to our out of town family (and non-facebook Army members)...took me a whole week to get this up here.  But these are the commercials that we did for Dayton Children's.

This is the one that is Jerad and I and Dr B.  So glad they didn't use my words because I found that I completely froze up when having to talk to an inanimate object (camera)  Luckily Jerad pulled through and did his part in 1 or 2 takes.  vs. my 18.  Think I will stick to the blog.

I was completely amazed how many people saw these.  They played during the Superbowl and I guess maybe that is the only time of year people don't fast forward through commercials.  I have random people I have never met saying stuff to me.  We were at the hospital the next day and they were all the buzz.

I do have to say I was quite proud of these.  Not really for any profound thing that we said just because our friends at CMC thought we were worthy enough to share our experience.  I feel a huge debt to them that I can never repay in anyway.  They saved my child's life.  So I am always trying to find a way to pay it back to them even if it is something small like this.

So here ya go:
First one is shorter version.  I also learned Dayton Children's is in the top 11 of pediatric cancer hospitals in the country.  Our small town should be so proud.

This is the longer one and our story is towards the end.

Finally, the reason Ally was at the hospital on Monday was to start her testing for the long term side effects.  Several chemos are hard on the heart.  They got a base echo and ekg the day she was diagnosed.  So now we were gonna get our first look almost three years later.  Dr Ross (our favorite) checked her out.  He is married to one of Ally's favorite nurses in the clinic.  I thought all was fine until he thought he saw a plastic piece of her port tubing still in her artery.  UH...yea lets get that out.  So we had to do some additional chest x-rays and wait for a very painful hour with her asking me...how will they get it out...do I have to have surgery again??!!....and me just praying for about an hour straight.  Turned out to be OK.  It was some scar tissue that basically grew around the port tubing since her port was in so long  (2 years 7 months!)  He said they would watch it and it will dissipate in time.  Her other heart tests just showed some very mild changes and he said we have nothing to worry about for the time being.  They will keep checking her every year.

Thanks for those of you still praying for our girl!